


Cookies And The End of The World

by MoonySideDown



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Todd is Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11466906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonySideDown/pseuds/MoonySideDown
Summary: Bruce lowered his hands from his eyes and blinked, drawing his brows together. “You want me to go up there?”Alfred raised his eyebrows, setting the tray of cookies and milk on the island in front of Bruce. “I understand you are terribly unacquainted with heartbreak, sir,” he began dryly, “but what Master Jason needs right now, is a father.”





	Cookies And The End of The World

Every now and then Bruce had a great day at work. A day when everything went well, when no one argued with him or presented him with a ridiculous problem. A day when he got to come home, not only on time, but _early_.

 

He breezed into the kitchen, humming to himself.

 

Alfred, to his surprise, was in the kitchen as well. The older man turned from the oven with a tray of cookies. “Good afternoon, Master Bruce. Welcome home.”

 

“Thank you, Alfred.” He said slowly, setting his briefcase on the counter. Normally, at this time in the afternoon, Alfred would be away picking up Jason from school after his extracurricular activities had ended. “Is Jason home?”

 

Lifting the cookies from the tray to a cooling rack with a spatula, Alfred nodded. “He is, he decided to skip his drama club meeting today.”

 

Bruce leaned froward on the counter and frowned. “I thought he loved his drama club. He never stops talking about it.”

 

Alfred sighed, setting the tray and oven mitts aside. “It seems, sir, that there was a bit of an incident.”

 

“I told you, Alfred, the last thing Jason needs is a drama club. The kid makes enough drama all by himself.” Bruce moved to sit on one of the stools at the island, sat down heavily, and rubbed his eyes. “What happened?”

 

“The only detail I was able to gather is that one of the girls in this club of his 'ripped his heart out through his bellybutton, spat on it, and fed it to her dog'.” Alfred piled warm cookies on a small plate, and set the plate on a tray alongside a glass of milk. “Perhaps you will be able to gather something more, sir.”

 

Bruce lowered his hands from his eyes and blinked, drawing his brows together. “You want _me_ to go up there?”

 

Alfred raised his eyebrows, setting the tray of cookies and milk on the island in front of Bruce. “I understand you are terribly unacquainted with heartbreak, sir,” he began dryly, “but what Master Jason needs right now, is a father.”

 

For a long moment, the two of them were locked in a silent stalemate. Bruce's narrowed blue eyes met Alfred's steady brown ones in a battle he was destined to lose. Finally the younger man sighed and stood, taking the tray off the marble countertop.

 

\- - -

 

Bruce took his time climbing the wide staircase to the second floor, and wandered slowly down the hall. The problem wasn't that he didn't want to help Jason, it was just that he had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situtation. If the emotional teenager didn't want to tell Alfred what had happened, what were the odds he would find telling Bruce any more palatable?

 

He rememberd what Alfred had said. Whatever was bothering Jason had something to do with a girl, and honestly he wasn't entirely surprised, but he was still entirely unprepared. Being unprepared was not a sensation he particularly enjoyed, ever.

 

Despite his efforts to the contrary, he soon found himself outside of Jason's bedroom door. To his surprise, it was slightly open already. Through the slight space between the door and the wall he could see that the lights were off, and he wondered briefly if Jason was even inside.

 

Gently, he nudged the door with one foot. It swung back, announcing Bruce's arrival with a loud groan of old metal hinges that made him wince slightly.

 

The room, as he'd seen before opening the door, was dark. The drapes were drawn tight over the windows, throwing the room into shadow as dark as if it were midnight instead of late afternoon. In what faint light fell from the hallway, Bruce could see Jason's school bag lying haphazardly on the floor, books spilling out. His school jacket was tossed on the ground nearby, and his shoes seemed to have dropped from his feet in the middle of walking to the bed.

 

On the bed, Jason was curled into an unhappy ball, back to the hallway.

 

Bruce stepped into the room, the floor creaking under his feet. “Jason?”

 

He supposed his son had been expecting Alfred, since the moment he heard Bruce's voice, he sat up with a start and wiped at his face with his sleeves. His dark hair, mussed and wild, stuck out in all directions. His face held the imprint of his rumpled blankets.

 

“What?” He demanded in a voice too shaky and weak to be insolent.

 

Carefully Bruce adjusted the tray's weight to one hand and used the other to switch on the light. Jason flinched at the brightness, squinting his red and puffy eyes, wiping at them a couple of more times while Bruce approached and set the tray on the nightstand.

 

Jason looked wary, almost guarded, while he watched Bruce move through his room.

 

“Alfred thought you might like some cookies.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at Bruce, his eyes red-rimmed but sharp, hard as ice and twice as cold. He wasn't putting up with any nonsense today. “He sent you up here to _talk_ to me didn't he?”

 

Well, casual conversation seemed to be out immediately. “He said you had a bad day at school today.”

 

The teenager, still thin and a little lanky despite his growing height, shrugged. “It was all right. How come you're home already?”

 

Bruce shrugged, taking a cookie from the plate on the tray. “I got my work done, and I wanted to come home early. How come _you're_ home already?”

 

Jason sighed. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his crossed legs, then crossed his arms as well like he was hugging himself, folding himself into a tense little ball. “I...didn't feel like going to drama club today.”

 

He said it like a confession, like he had done something wrong and had to get it off of his chest.

 

Bruce felt like an interrogater, marching around his bedroom as he was, even if he was eating a cookie while he did it. So instead he wandered over to the bed and sat, his weight enough to bounce Jason in his spot just a little.

 

Jason put one hand on the bed to steady himself and turned to give Bruce a narrow-eyed glare, adding a smirk to take the edge off it.

 

Bruce reached over to cover Jason's forehead with one hand, frowning thoughtfully.

 

The boy leaned back in surprise as if Bruce had been swinging an arm to strike him. “What are you-”

 

“Checking for a fever. If _you_ didn't want to go to drama club something _must_ be up. I'm pretty sure you're the most dramatic kid I know.”

 

Jason shoved his arm away with a snort, an actual smile breaking through the slight smirk from before. “That's hilarious, coming from a guy who dresses like a giant bat every night.” He leaned over and grabbed a cookie from the plate.

 

Bruce smiled and rested a hand over his heart. “Wow, I am truly wounded.”

 

The two fell into a fairly comfortable silence, enjoying their snacks. Jason, Bruce noticed, was less curled into himself, his body less tense.

 

“So,” Bruce began as gently as he could, hoping he wouldn't scare Jason back into himself, “Alfred told me you said something about a girl?”

 

Jason didn't retreat back into a little ball like Bruce had feared, but he did shove the rest of his cookie into his mouth all at once, chewing slowly.

 

Bruce waited, trying not to break out in a grin at his son's clumsy yet efficient method of buying time.

 

Eventually the last bit of cookie was swallowed, and Jason fidgeted in place, picking at his bedspread. “Her name is Amber.”

 

It wasn't unusual at all for Jason to get hung up on a girl. In fact it was probably the most in-character thing he'd done all day so far. Bruce finished his cookie and nodded encouragingly for him to continue.

 

Jason let out a gusty sigh and flopped backwards on the bed like he'd been struck by some imaginary bullet. “She came over and talked to me at lunch with all her friends with her. I thought she was just gonna talk to me about something for drama, y'know, but then instead she asked me out? It was so weird I had no idea what to even say.”

 

Bruce's heart stuttered in his chest. Jason was only fifteen, was that old enough for dating? How old had Dick been when he'd started? He couldn't remember. He was definitely not prepared for this talk.

 

“So I just kind of stuttered out _something_ and I don't even remember what I said.” Jason rubbed his eyes. “But then like she started laughing? And so did her friends, because apparently pretending to ask me out was her way of announcing to the whole school she's dating Joseph Finnerly.”

 

Oh. _Oh_.

 

“So yeah that...pretty much sucked.”

 

Bruce twisted in his spot to look back at Jason. He was on his back still, eyes fixed on the ceiling. Gently, Bruce rested a hand on his son's knee. “I'm sorry that happened, Jason.”

 

“Yeah, me too. I mean...” He was quiet for a while, gathering his thoughts. Bruce didn't interrupt. “I kind of liked her, sort of. And I thought she kind of maybe liked me a little too but...I guess...I guess that was stupid.”

 

Bruce squeezed Jason's knee once. “It certainly was not stupid, Jay. Liking a girl doesn't make you stupid.”

 

Jason shrugged, still staring at the ceiling.

 

“It's her loss, anyway,” Bruce went on, “if she doesn't want to spend time with an intelligent, funny kid like you. Let her go hang around with Joseph Fish-”

 

“Finnerly.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

Jason snorted, laying an arm over his mouth to stifle a laugh.

 

“She and Joe Fish can hang out and be jerks together. Meanwhile you'll continue to be one of the best young men I've ever had the privilege to know. And maybe one day you'll meet a girl who appreciates that. And she won't hurt you like Amber did.”

 

Jason sat up, grabbed another cookie from the plate and took a huge bite, then spoke thoughtfully around his mouthful. “...Joseph _is_ a jerk.”

 

Bruce laughed and stood up, walked over to the other side of the bed and opened the drapes. “Then they belong together.”

 

“I hope they're happy.” Jason smirked before taking a sip of milk. “But y'know what's really funny?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Amber's a huge fan of Robin.”

 

Downstairs, Alfred was finishing putting away the freshly-washed baking trays when he heard a familiar, but startling sound. Bruce was laughing, and under it he could hear Jason laughing as well. He smiled, and grabbed a cookie from the cooling rack for himself.

 


End file.
